(August 28th, 2018) The Origin of TECRO / 台北駐美經濟文化代表處的起源

The Origin of TECRO.

In a letter dated Oct. 13, 1994, Taiwan’s then-representative to the US Benjamin Lu wrote to American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi: “I take great pleasure in informing you that my government has formally approved that the name of our Washington office will be Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.”

Two months later, on Dec. 20, Bellocchi responded, acknowledging receipt of the letter “informing me of the change in name of your office from the Coordination Council for North American Affairs (CCNAA) to Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO).”

Earlier, in a letter dated Oct. 3, 1990, then-US Department of State executive secretary J. Stapleton Roy had written to US national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, CIA acting executive secretary James Pittman and US Department of Defense executive secretary Colonel John Dubia, saying: “Consistent with the unofficial nature of US-Taiwan ties, the US Government [USG] no longer refers to Taiwan as the ‘Republic of China’ — a term reflecting Taipei’s continuing claim to be the government of China… We refer to Taiwan simply as Taiwan.”

The U.S. therefore has an “American Institute in Taiwan” and a “Taiwan Relations Act.”

So why is TECRO called the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” today and not the “Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office?”

FAPA understands that in 1994, when Washington asked Taipei for a short list of new names to replace the oddly nondescriptive CCNAA (mis)nomer, Taipei did not submit a possible new name for its representative office with the word “Taiwan” in it — despite Roy stating in 1990 that “we refer to Taiwan simply as Taiwan” in the US guidelines.

The TECRO name is nondescriptive as well of course, as it has the word “Taipei” in it, which creates the impression that the office only represents the capital and its residents.
It would be the equivalent of referring to the American Institute in Taiwan as the Washington Institute in Taiwan.

FAPA believes that the time is now that the US start adhering to reality by changing TECRO to a name that is consistent with US policy: the Taiwan Representative Office. It would set an inspiring precedent for other countries to emulate.